“We’ve encouraged that; we support an Afghan-owned, Afghan-led process”.
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USA officials said the strike was justified because Mansour refused to negotiate with Afghan leaders and continued to plot attacks on Afghan and US forces.
Senior Taliban sources have also confirmed the killing to AFP, adding that a shura (council) is under way to select a new leader.
President Barack Obama confirmed Mansour’s death on Monday. “He [Mansoor] is probably gone, but we need to cross-check more facts before official confirmation”, a security source revealed.
“Today marks an important milestone in our longstanding effort to bring peace and prosperity to Afghanistan”, Obama, who is touring east Asia, said in a statement on Sunday.
Analysts assert that a lot of efforts that Pakistan had been making for peace in the region, went in vain.
Killing Mullah Mansour sent a message that “we’re going to protect our people”, he said.
Islamabad, which says it hosts numerous Afghan Taliban’s top leadership to exert influence over them and bring them back to peace talks with Kabul, called the United States drone attack a violation of its sovereignty. He had emerged as the successor to Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, whose 2013 death was only revealed last summer.
Obama has told aides he is not inclined to restart regular US operations against the Taliban, the senior administration officials said.
Pakistan, which says it is hosting the Afghan Taliban’s top leadership in order to exert influence over them, has lambasted the United States over the drone attack, calling it a violation of its sovereignty. “We’ve talked about this airstrike”.
In background interviews with The Express Tribune officials suggested that Pakistan was furious over the U.S. decision to take out Mansoor. The death came amid indications of an impending Taliban offensive. According to US Secretary of State, Washington conducted a precision air strike that targeted Mansour in a remote area of Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
But those seen as the most likely to now take over the Taliban are considered even less inclined than Mullah Mansour to reconcile with a USA -backed government they have fought for years, according to the Afghan observers.
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The experts and those aware of the developments taking place on this front informed that both Mulla Muhammad Yaqoob and Mulla Abdul Manan Omari were engaged in lobbying for clinching the top position but the decision on coming up with a consensus candidate for the position seemed dim as some other powerful Taliban commanders were also in the arena.
